1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication system and a communication method that enable easy connection from an external device to a secure local area network (LAN).
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, it is generally practiced that a local area network (LAN) is established inside an organization such as a corporation and various information processing devices used inside the organization are connected to each other via the LAN (hereinafter, referred to as an internal LAN). It is also generally practiced that a wireless LAN for wireless communication is further established in the internal LAN and information processing devices used by each member belonging to the organization are connected to the internal LAN via the wireless LAN so that various devices such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP) and a projector device that are connected to the internal LAN can be used from the information processing devices used by each member.
In the internal LAN and the wireless LAN connected thereto as described above, it is general that authentication processing is performed for an external information processing device to be connected and various devices connected to the internal LAN can be used from the external information processing device once the authentication has been succeeded. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2007-235713 discloses a technique that enables utilization of an MFP connected to a network by performing authentication with unique user information and the Active Directory.
A case will be considered where a user outside the organization uses a device (a projector device, for example) connected to the internal LAN. In most cases, from a security point of view, an information processing device used by a user outside the organization cannot be connected to the internal LAN. It has been thus inconvenient for a user outside the organization because the user cannot use a device inside the organization via the internal LAN from an information processing device used by the user or is obliged to use a legacy connection to use the device inside the organization.
Conventionally, when a user outside the organization attempts to use a projector device inside the organization, for example, there has been an inconvenience that the user has to use a legacy connection such as a video graphics array (VGA) or a digital visual interface (DVI) and take time to prepare a connection cable therefor.
As a method for permitting a user outside the organization to temporarily connect to the LAN, a dedicated guest network may be established. However, this has not been easy because in order to perform this method, reconstruction and resetting are necessary at the level of network design and operation, such as logical partitioning of the network using a virtual LAN (VLAN), for example. There has also been a problem that the method is ineffective in view of costs and power consumption because the use frequency of a guest network is generally low and the network hardly used must be kept established for guests only.
Furthermore, with a wireless LAN provided for guests only, there is an operation burden that each setting must be notified to the user outside. The method is thus frequently used with no security setting or a password that can be notified orally or by handwriting in actual cases. This has posed a problem that the wireless LAN communication performed by a guest terminal is exposed to a security threat such as a wiretap.
In view of the above circumstance, there is a need to make it possible to easily connect an information processing device of a user outside an organization to a network inside the organization with security ensured.